Lilacs and Aftershave
by veritas vincit
Summary: An unlikely hero at an unlikely time.


Written for a Spring-Summer Sarkney Ficathon.  
Author: veritasvincit  
Title: Lilacs and Aftershave  
Rating: PG - PG:13  
Summary: An unlikely hero at an unlikely time  
Timeline: After Syd gives up Sloane for the antidote...(I can't remember what ep. that was)...

His kisses were barely there, soft brushes of skin against skin. Not that she was complaining, it was just she assumed the force he put into his work would also be found in the bedroom.

Not that she was complaining.

He ran his hand up her stomach and placed feather-light kisses around her belly button. Even though she couldn't see his face in the darkness she knew he grinned when her breath suddenly hitched and her back arched of its own accord. He pulled away suddenly and she was left wanting. Wanting his warmth, the pressure of his body on hers, his...

She looked at him questioningly and smiled when the light from the full moon made his face glow like he was an angel.

Her angel.

He cocked his head and looked at her in a way that sent a shiver of dread up her spine.

"You know, you really _are_ like your mother." Her smile faltered and the coolness in his voice. Before, there had been no words. Just short gasps for air, soft moans and tiny sounds of pleasure. But now, even his quite whispers sounded booming in the silence of her bedroom.

She forced out a chuckle. "Wha-? Sark, what are you talking about?"

And then she gasped as she felt the cool steel slide inside her. Her hands flew to her stomach where she felt the sticky warmth of life slowly drain from her, pain radiating to every nerve ending. Her eyes drifted slowly from her blood soaked hands to his unforgiving eyes.

"W-why? Why?" She was crying now, she expected everything to end in the field, saving people's lives, serving her country, taking down SD-6. Not laying down in bed with the enemy. Not like this, not like this.

Sark leaned down and hissed "Because you betray everyone." He kissed her softly on the lips at the same time pulling the knife from her, mouth twitching when she cried out in pain. He stood over her like her own personal angel of death, wiping the blood off his weapon and carelessly tossing his handkerchief next to her.  
"Please don't leave me alone-" she called out to him but he was already gone, fading into the shadows that were clawing at her conscious.

Turning her head, Sydney stared out the window. There were a million, brilliant stars in the sky and the smell of lilacs and Sark's aftershave filled the air. It reminded her of her mother.

_ "Someday, you'll find someone special. And you be just as in love as your father and I."_

_ "You promise mommy?"_

_ "Would I lie to you?"_

_ She nodded. 'yes mom, you would.'_

Tears fell, it was getting harder to breathe. She heard someone calling her name.

"Agent Bristow?"

Didn't they know it was too late?

"Agent Bristow!"

"SYDNEY!"

The shadows consumed her.

"Sydney!"

She woke with a start, Sark's unusually pale face in her broken window. She drew back in surprise, her dream fresh in her mind. Her back muscles were screaming at her from remaining in one position for too long and she was covered in glass.

"You weren't moving and you didn't answer when I knocked on the window. I thought something was wrong." His crisp accent portraying an uncharacteristic worry.

Sydney just stared.

"I'll replace your window." He seemed to be talking to fill in her silence so she climbed out of the car, not taking any particular care or notice to the glass.

She had only meant to pull over for a second, just a second so that she could catch her breath and calm her mind.  
oh those poor people...

It was supposed to be a mission like any other mission. Go to the country with the person threatening to murder hundreds of people for his God, meet with the terrorist for SD-6, buy and sell the necessary weapons from him to prevent him from mass murder.

That was how it was supposed to be. But not this time.

The terrorist had jumped the gun and murdered them anyway. It haunted her, the image of those people in that ditch.

Men.  
Women.  
_Children_

She remembered turning to Sark, who's ashen face proved to her that he was human and he could be affected by such devastation, and watched him fall to his knees retch into the nearest bush. All she could do was cry and reach for him. He held her as she collapsed to the ground. She vaguely remembered him carrying her to the plane and bringing her in for the SD-6 debrief.

She looked up at Sark, the wind from the drivers on the freeway whipping her hair in her face.

"Maybe your Agent Vaughn can wait..." He began.

"What did we do wrong?" She cut him off, her eyes welling up with tears and she wiped them away with the back of her hand. She looked at the trees, the budding flowers, the summer sky, anywhere but him. "We were at the meeting point, we _had_ the money. Why? Why did he kill them anyway?"

Sark crossed the distance that was between them and brushed her tears away.

"Because he was a bad man." he said simply.

Sark used to admire Sydney's ability to compartmentalize, but he was so afraid of she would turn into him. Cold, unfeeling... A person could only take so much before they snapped. Sark had to hold Sydney back from attacking Sloane when he referred to the people as 'collateral damage'.

"They are people damnit! PEOPLE!" She yelled as Sark forcibly removed her from the room, kicking and screaming.

"People..." She said as she wrenched herself from Sark's grasp and made her way to the parking garage.

"How did you know I was here anyway?" She asked softly.

He hesitated before answering. There was no love lost between them and he didn't want to make the situation worse that it already was.

"I was worried about you Agent Bristow, your outburst left me concerned for your ablity to concentrate on the road. So I followed you."

"Sydney." She said

"Pardon me?" He asked, confused.

"Agent Bristow is my father. I'm Sydney." She said with the hint of a smile on her face.

"Let me take you home Sydney." Sark wrapped his arm around her shoulder turning her towards his car.

"But Vaughn- My car..."

"Sydney, Sydney, did you think I _flew_ here?" He said his blue eyes sparkling. "I know I'm good, but I'm not _that_ good."

The next morning she woke up, the sun in her eyes. She was tucked into bed with her favorite stuffed animal alongside her. She smiled at the sight of the stuffed sheep that her father had given her after one of his many "business trips".

How did Sark know about "_Milton_"?

She pulled herself out of bed, wondering if Sark was still here. She padded her way into the kitchen and saw a note on the counter.

_S._

_Wasn't safe for me to stay.  
Look outside_

_S._

She smiled and looked out the window.

Her car.  
She ran outside and laughed when she saw her car in the driveway, the window was fixed. She placed her fingers on the glass and wondered if it was bullet-proof.

Sydney sighed and went back inside. It was amazing really, she just knew that it would be different. They might not be working for the same side, but in her own twisted way, she knew she could trust Sark.

For now.

Who knows what tomorrow holds.

a/n: I had no plans to continue, but I think that I'll write a couple companion pieces to this if i get any reviews. :)


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